TWO brothers from Middlesbrough were given suspended jail sentences yesterday for a drunken attack on a man eating a pizza as he walked home.

Robert and Simon Johnson punched and kicked Nathan Butler, 22, when he refused to give them a piece of his takeaway.

Mr Butler fought back, but when he went into a kebab shop to call the police, the brothers repeated the attack, leaving him cut and bruised, said Simon Reevell, prosecuting.

Robert Johnson, 24, told police later that he had drunk 15 pints of lager and half a bottle of vodka before the early hours violence on August 4.

His brother, Simon,19, was so drunk that he could remember little, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Kieran Rainey, mitigating, said: "Clearly, Simon Johnson's victim was robust enough to punch his attackers and walk away."

He said that Johnson's fiancee had given him an ultimatum about his behaviour. He wished to apologise to the victim of his attack, and he had cut down on his drinking.

Judge George Moorhouse said that the brothers' behaviour was deserving of a prison sentence, but the defence barristers persuaded him to suspend it for both men.

The judge said: "The message has to go out loud and clear to members of the public that they will go to prison for this type of behaviour."

Both brothers had previous convictions for violent and drunken behaviour, added Mr Reevell.

David Lamb, mitigating for Robert Johnson, said he was on a suspended prison sentence and a night curfew.

He added: "His lifestyle in the summer of last year was completely different from that at present."

Robert Johnson, of Gresham Street, and his brother, of Percy Street, both Middlesbrough, were given nine-month jail sentences, suspended for two years with supervision, after they pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm assault.

Robert Johnson was also given a criminal anti-social behaviour order for three years, including a ban on public drunkenness with a five-year jail penalty.